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Monday, July 9, 2012

What's Your Plan?

Last night, my friend Jon and I went on an impromptu journey to Grand Haven. We watched the musical fountains, ate ice cream, and hung out at the beach after dark (like hoodlums). Jon is awesome. In high school I saw his face practically every day, and he always made me laugh. We spent a lot of time together with drama club, track, marching band, and adventure club, but we haven't seen as much of each other since he moved to Texas for grad school. In San Marcos, he works as a college professor, a band member, and the leader of a youth group at his church. "What's your grand plan," I asked him as we walked in the water, "What would be your dream job?""I feel like I'm doing it," he told me, "Every day I wake up and feel like I'm on vacation."This made me think of the many times I've been asked this question. "So now that you have this blog, what's your plan? Why would you put all that time into something that isn't making you any money?" The truth is: I don't have a plan. That's right, no plan. It took years, but I finally realized that I don't need a plan. I'm just going to do what I love and see where it takes me. Am I broke? You bet, but its worth it. Is it scary? Very much so, especially in a time where your job and income can define your worth. Am I happy? Absolutely, and I know that its only going to get better. Nothing makes me happier than remaking things and sharing them with you. If some how, some day I make money by doing what I love, then great (fortunately, taking junk and re-purposing it is just about the most convenient hobby a starving artist can have). If not, then I will still wake up happy, even if I have to eat Ramen Noodles and gas station food for the rest of my life.

A few weeks ago I met Rand, one of Jon's roommates while he was in Michigan for a gallery show called Cabin Time. This was inspiring, too: a group of artists spent time living in a cabin, then make all kinds of art relating to their experiences with nature and time together. I absolutely loved meeting Rand and hearing all about his experiences and seeing his work (below). I just wanted to go camping right then and have all of those experiences for myself. When people do what they love, they have this amazing energy that's so contagious and energizing. Why don't more of us live this way?

AND, I woke up this morning to an email from lomography, an online magazine, asking me to write tutorials for them! Because its all about analog photography, its full of beautiful photos like this one (beautiful photography: something else that inspires me). I will be writing for the new DIY section every other week. I get to share my silly ideas for re-using trash with even more people. I honestly feel like Jon; every day I wake up excited and I feel like I'm on vacation.(Photo by Leslie Lipa from lomography)